UN Compilation >> Sudan, Review Documentation, 40th Session, January 2022

The HR Committee was concerned about the criminalization of voluntary termination of pregnancy under article 135 of the Criminal Code, save under limited circumstances, leading women and girls to resort to unsafe abortion in conditions that put their lives and health at risk. It recommended that the Sudan amend its legislation to provide safe, legal and effective access to abortion to protect the life and health of pregnant women or girls at risk, in cases in which carrying a pregnancy to term would cause the woman substantial pain or suffering, most notably when the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest or was not viable. Furthermore, it recommended that the Sudan ensure that women and girls who had abortions, and the physicians assisting them, were not subjected to criminal sanctions, and that it also ensure access to adequate sexual and reproductive health-care services, contraception and education for men, women and adolescents throughout the country. [Para 43]